All of the answers are technically true, but the one that
is the most ironic is the first one. Chris McCandless donated his money to OXFAM
America, which is a hunger relief organization. The ultimate irony in this fact is that,
two years later, he himself died of starvation.
Chris
McCandless was an idealist and an enigma. After he donated the money that was to have
put him through law school to OXFAM, he began to pursue his lifelong dream of traveling
the country, with no itinerary, no companions, and few amenities. There were a number
of instances where he unwittingly put his own life in danger, but the call to wander in
complete freedom as he felt it within his soul was stronger than anything to him, even
his own well-being. After donating his money, Chris never saw his family again, but on
one of his earlier trips, taken during the summer between school semesters, he returned
so emaciated that his parents were stunned. During the two years between his college
graduation and his final fateful trip into the Alaskan wilds, Chris traveled
ceaselessly, and survived a flash flood, heatstroke while hiking in the desert during
the height of summer, and being caught in a ferocious storm while paddling a canoe on
the open sea. When he finally died, he had gotten himself stuck in the Alaskan bush,
into which he had hiked with nothing more than a small sack of rice and a lunch packed
by the wife of the man who gave him a ride. Trapped by the high waters of a river which
was swollen with runoff from the mountains, Chris had tried to live off plants and seeds
in his environment, but had been unsuccessful. His decomposed remains, when found,
weighed only sixty-five pounds; Chris McCandless, who had donated enough money to
finance a good deal of time in law school to an organization which worked to alleviate
hunger for others, had starved to death himself.
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